Ex Libris Book Marriages
by The Lucky Ducky
Summary: Jess, our books have to get married!
1. Our books have to get married!

_Title:_ Ex Libris – Book Marriages (1/?)

_Author:_ The Lucky Ducky

_Fandom:_ Gilmore Girls

_Pairing:_ Literati (Rory/Jess)

_Rating:_ K+ (I guess… for now at least)

_Disclaimer:_ "Gilmore Girls" isn't mine, otherwise thing would have been different. Jess wouldn't have left or at least, he'd come back for good.

_Summary_: "Jess, our books have to get married!"

_A/N:_ I started this when I was on my way to Munich (for the Heroes World Tour) and I had to wait at the station in Memmingen for an hour. I was reading "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader" by Anne Fadiman, which is just a great book (thanks for suggesting it, Maho). In that book there is also a chapter in which she and her husband put together their books after their marriage and I was instantly thinking of Rory and Jess. Now this is what I wrote at that little train station somewhere in Bavaria.

_A/N2:_ Thanks to my wonderful beta Maren, who had to struggle with the runes that I call my handwriting. You're just amazing! If it wasn't for you, this fic would probably still "sleep" in my notebook and not be published for another several months.

**Ex Libris – Book Marriages**

"Jess, our books have to get married!"

"Huh?", Jess looked up from the book he was currently reading – or better re-reading cause he had already read "Siesta" about three dozen times – and over to the other end of the couch, where Rory sat curled up with her own book.

"Our books have to get married!", she repeated.

"I'm sorry. What?!" This time he had heard every word she said perfectly well, but he still couldn't get the meaning. Maybe she had said something else?

Rory sighed angrily, then she repeated the words again, this time stressing every word: "I said: Our books have to get married." You could even hear the full stop at the end of the sentence, but still…

"Okay, just let me get this right. Did you just say you want our books to get married?", Jess asked, still confused about the words, and earned himself an angry look. Rory may have refused to show him her withering stare that day she had visited him in New York, but all her fears of hurting him seemed to have vanished during the last year.

"Thats what I just said."

"Ah, okay. I thought that was it."

"And…?" She grew impatient.

"And what?"

"What do you think?"

"About…?", he became more and more confused.

"About our books getting married, of course!" Did he only pretend or was he really that stupid?

Jess didn't know what to say. "Do they need wedding rings and a ceremony?"

Books getting married? This was ridiculous. She must have certainly gotten insane.

"Of course not!"

Jess was relieved. "Good. I didn't think we could afford that for all of them and I don't know what about you but I couldn't decide which ones to disappoint.", he grinned.

"Very funny." Rory rolled her eyes at his remark, but he could see the tiny smile she was trying to hide.

"I thought so."

"But that's not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean, then?" Jess asked, suddenly curious which way this was going to go.

"Jess, we've been living together for ten months now and we still keep our books in different shelves!"

"So…?"

"So I think this has to change."

"What's wrong with it?" He really had no clue what Rory was up to.

When they moved in together, they each had filled their own bookshelves and everything had been good as it was. Okay, there may have been some occasions when one of his books would show up in her bookshelf or the other way around, but she had never complained about that. They had always shared their books, and he had written just as many notes in the margins of her books as he had in his own, so that sometimes even they didn't know anymore which book belonged to whom. But it had never really mattered. So why her sudden urge to change that?

"We're married!", Rory exclaimed.

Jess nodded. "I know."

"Seven months ago we promised each other to share everything, that there wouldn't be "yours" and "mine" anymore but only "ours"!" Now she seemed upset.

"I know. I was there, too.", Jess stated, matter-of-factly.

"Then why don't we do it?"

"Do what?"

"Make everything that's now yours and mine OURS!"

Jess frowned. "I thought we already did. We're sharing this apartment, our bed… right now you're wearing a pair of my sweatpants!You never seemed to want me to share the kitchen with you, but if you want to… I wouldn't mind."

"It's not about the kitchen!"

"So what is it about? Cause really, I have no clue what you're talking about!"

She threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. "I'm talking about the fact that we're sharing the same bed but our books still live in different shelves!"

"Oh."

So that was the thing that bothered her.

"So you want us to…"

"… finally put our books together, yes!", she finished for him. "I mean, we read each other's books anyway and there are your margin notes in all of them, so it doesn't really matter."

Jess nodded silently, considering her proposal. He knew why it seemed to be so important for her.

Books had always defined their relationship, maybe their love for books had been the only reason for them getting together. He didn't know if he – as the angry, stubborn kid he had been when they first met – had even talked to that strange girl if she hadn't loved books just as much as he did.

And now, seven years later, they were married.

Sure, it had been a long way until they finally got here, but it had certainly been worth it.

Putting their books together would make it a lot more difficult to break up again. Right now, each of them could easily pack their books and leave, but if they mixed them up in one shelf this wouldn't be possible anymore. And neither of them would leave without their books. Rory knew it as well as he did. It was commitment, a promise to stay together for the rest of their lives and maybe it meant even more than exchanging rings at their wedding.

Jess had never really committed himself to anyone – and he had thought he never would, or rather, never could.

He looked at Rory, his beautiful wife, the woman he loved more than anything in the world – even more than his books – who now gazed at him expectantly out of those deep blue eyes of hers. And that was the moment he knew he could commit himself to one person only.

He shrugged. "Okay. Let's do it."

Her eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why not? It's no big deal and as you said, we've been married for…"

He didn't get any further cause Rory had already thrown herself at him and kissed him passionately. When she pulled back, still sitting on his lap, she looked him deep in the eyes. "I love you, you know?"

Jess answered with his crooked trademark grin. "I know."

_**End Part 1**_

_A/N:_ This can probably also be read as a stand alone, but there will be more parts.

So tell me how you liked it.


	2. So, how do we sort them?

_**Part 2 **_

"So, how do we sort them?", Jess asked, sitting between piles of books on the living room floor. "By author? Genre? Publishing date?"

"What I'd like to know is what do we do with the ones we have two copies of.", Rory answered, looking up from two equal copies of "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

"What exactly do you mean by what do we do with them?"

"Well, if we put our books together, it's not necessary to keep two copies each, is it?" She still held up the Zafóns, one in each hand.

"And what about my margin notes?", Jess wanted to know.

"They're in both of them."

"Ha! But I wrote different notes in each of them.", he retorted.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"Because", he stressed the word for emphasize, "when I read a book several times, there are always new ideas I get and so…"

"…you write different margin notes.", she finished, sighing.

"Exactly. So…"

"So…?"

"You still want to put one of 'em away?"

"Well, I guess we could put both copies into the shelf", Rory gave in.

"Good. Now we only have to decide how to sort them in." Jess gazed from the still empty shelves to the piled up books on the floor. "Or we could just let them on the floor."

"Yeah, cause that's such a great idea." Rory rolled her eyes at her husband.

"Why don't you come up with something better, then?", he backfired in a challenging tone.

"Why don't we just sort them the way you do it at Truncheon?"

Jess sighed. "Alphabetical by author?"

"What's wrong with that?", she asked, seeing Jess's less than happy expression. "I mean, that's how most people sort their books."

"Exactly. Every moron can sort his books alphabetical by author!", he exclaimed.

"Including you in your book store." Rory remarked, matter-of-factly.

"But only because the customers are too dumb to adjust to a new system and would come running and asking every two minutes."

"Jess!"

Jess held up his hands in surrender. "What? I tried! I mean, you should think people would search for Kerouac in the same shelf as Bukowski, but they just don't get it that the beatniks belong together and look for him next to Keats in the English Romanticism section. They're even looking for Ginsberg next to Goethe."

"Well, both names start with G and both wrote poetry.", she tried to defend.

"But that's all they have in common. You can't compare Ginsberg with a German playwright. Plus, Ginsberg is one of the most famous beatniks, so why don't people just think that he might be in the Beat Poetry shelf, if they can't find him anywhere else?"

"I… don't know."

"But I do. It's because they're stupid.", Jess responded, satisfied to have proven his point.

Rory laughed. "Okay, I'm convinced. No sorting by author, cause we're not stupid. Let's just try that sorting-by-genre-thing, then."

"I think that's a wise decision.", Jess grinned.

_**End Part 2**_

_Want more? Then push the nice little button and tell me how you liked that one._


	3. Where's The Fountainhead?

_A/N:_ That's it. Finally. The third and last part of "Ex Libris - Book Marriages". So, I guess all I can do now is first, to thank awesome beta Maren, cause she did a great job. Thank you, honey, for all your help and criticism, you know you're the best. And second, to thank you, those who read and reviewed this story. I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I had writing it.

_Disclaimer: _"Gilmore girls", Jess and Rory are still not mine, even though I think I deserved it :P

**_Part 3_**

Several hours later – it was already dark outside – the floor was almost empty. There were still piles of books lying around, but at least the floorboards were visible again.

"Jess, where's _The Fountainhead_?"

"What?", his voice came back muffled between the crammed shelves.

"_The Fountainhead_, Ayn Rand. I can't find my copy." Rory stuck her head out from the piled up books, where she had been rummaging for the last several minutes.

Jess did the same. "Ah, you mean that crazy lady nobody understands."

"Jess, what did you do to my book?" Her voice had a slight tone of panic to it.

He shrugged indifferently. "Nothing."

"Then why can't I find it? Where did you put it?"

"Probably into a shelf. That's where we wanted to put our books, remember?"

Rory got more annoyed with any second and Jess just loved teasing her like that.

"I mean it, Jess! Where is my book? It's certainly not in one of the shelves here!"

"I didn't say it was."

"You said…"

"I said I put it into a shelf. I didn't say that I put it into one of those."

"Then, where did you put it? Cause, if it's gone, I swear I'm gonna…"

Jess stood up and offered her a hand to help do the same.

"What are you doing now?", she interrupted herself, irritated. "I only want to know where my book is."

Jess nodded. "Come on. I'll show you."

"Jess…", she began, but then she realized that it wouldn't make any difference and so she just sighed and took his hand so that he could pull her up, before she reluctantly followed him to their bedroom.

"We're still looking for my book, aren't we? Cause you don't have to think we're gonna do anything else in there as long as it's gone."

Jess didn't answer but placed her in the middle of the bedroom and motioned to the small shelf next to their bed. "There you go."

"Whats that? Why didn't you leave it with the other ones?"

"Just have a look, will ya?"

Rory approached the shelf and looked at the book titles: "HOWL and other poems" by Allen Ginsberg, "The Holy Barbarians", "Please Kill Me", "Oliver Twist", "The Fountainhead"…

"Jess, what are all those books doing here? They don't even fit in one genre!" She looked at her husband completely confused.

"Yes, they actually do."

"No, they don't. _Oliver Twist_ is Victorian novel, whereas _HOWL _is Beat Poetry and…"

"Those are all books that played a role in our relationship."

Rory started at him, absolutely sure he was joking, but Jess's face was dead serious.

"What?"

"You heard me." He shrugged. "I just… I just thought they deserved an extra place."

Her eyes grew wide as she realized what Jess had just said. "You really…?"

"We can still put them back into the living room, if you…" He wasn't able to finish cause Rory let out a squeal and threw herself around his neck. "That is SO sweet!"

Jess squirmed at the word but wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and pulled her even closer. "So… you like it?"

"Are you kidding? I love it!" And then she added softly: "I love you."

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled one of his rare full flash smiles that belonged only to her.

"I do", Rory confirmed, returning his smile. Then something came to her mind: "But, you know, there's a book missing."

"There is? Huh." Jess hadn't noticed that he had forgotten a book. When he had snatched the books for their special shelf he had actually thought he had remembered all of the books that had played a major role in their relationship, past and present. But obviously he must have forgotten one that Rory thought was important.

"What is it?", he asked, genuinely curious.

"Wait." Rory detangled herself from the embrace and ran back into the living room, only to return two minutes later, waving a relatively thin paperback at her husband.

"Oh, no." Jess rolled his eyes, a little embarrassed as he recognized the book in her hand.

"Oh, yes!"

"No way you're going to put _this_ into the shelf."

"But it has to be in there!", Rory exclaimed.

"It doesn't fit the genre."

"Excuse me? Which book could have been more important in our lives than _The Subsect_?"

"About every book in that shelf." He motioned to the corner next to their bed.

"If it wasn't for this book, we probably wouldn't be here, now!"

"Oh, come on!"

"What? I'd probably still be living in my grandparents' pool house, dating Logan and not talking to my mum and you'd…"

"We won't put it into that shelf." Jess remained determined.

"But you wrote it!"

"Exactly! And I say it doesn't belong there."

"I don't understand why you are so determined about this."

"Rory, don't you think it's a bit pretentious to put my book next to Allen Ginsberg and Charles Dickens?"

"Why would it?"

Jess rolled his eyes at Rory's innocent question: "Because they are world famous authors and I'm certainly not."

"Legs McNeil isn't world famous, either. Besides, _Please Kill Me_ is only a collection of interviews, not even a real novel. And you not being world famous doesn't mean you're not just as good as them."

He gave a sarcastic snort: "Yeah, sure."

"I mean it!"

"You're not being objective."

"Hey! I'd have told you if I didn't like it."

"You sure?"

"Just because I'm married to you doesn't mean I'd lie to you about that."

"I'm still not gonna put it in there."

"Why not?"

"It's just… weird, that's why."

"But…"

"Rory, please!"

"Come on, you wouldn't even notice it between all the others."

"But I'd know it's there."

"And you'd know that it was exactly that book that brought us here.", Rory reasoned, smiling broadly at him.

Jess sighed. "You won't give in, huh?"

Her smile grew wider because she knew that now, she had him right where she wanted him. "Never."

"Okay, then, if you really think it has to be…"

"Yes! Ha!", she threw her arms in the air triumphantly. "Never argue with a Gilmore. You should know that by now."

Now the smile showed up in his face as well. "I actually thought that maybe now that you're a Mariano, I'd have a chance now and then, too."

Rory laughed. "Nope. Not going to happen. You're forgetting that I learned from my mother and grandmother. It's in the genes, baby."

"Damn those Gilmore women and their stubbornness."

"Hey, watch your tongue, Mister. That's part of why you love me that much."

"No." He shook his head. "I love all the other parts, but that one… nope."

"Oh, really?" She faked a slightly offended face, but Jess grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled her closer.

"See, I love that part…" He kissed her lips, "…and that part as well" … followed by her cheek… "…and especially that part.", before he started nibbling at her neck and working his way down, while pulling her with him onto the bed.

Soon again "The Subsect" lay discarded on the floor and was buried under Rory's sweater and Jess' following shirt.

**_The End_**

Written: 08/26/07 – 04/12/08

_A/N:_ So, how did you like it? Was it good? Bad? Horrible? Do you want more of this kind of stories? Push the nice little button and tell me.


End file.
